Confused on conversions when tracking calories...help?

Briantime

I am trying to really get a handle on what I am eating and, instead of eyeballing portions I decided to start using a scale.

Question I have is, for example, Costco makes a chicken alfredo dinner that you take home and warm up. The food database shows the caloric content for this item in cups. Since a cup is a measure of volume instead of weight, is there a reliable formula I can use so I can decide my portion size?

ahoy_m8

I'm not familiar with that product, sorry. Generally speaking, there isn't a reliable conversion from cups to grams, which is why so many advocate avoiding cups if possible. Options:
1) if Costo provides nutrition information in cups, give it your best guess in cups
2) If not, do your best to deconstruct the dish, as you would in a restaurant. If you can weigh the chicken separate from the saucy noodles, that would help a little.

campfirequeen1

I know, once you start using a good scale, it's so annoying to not be able to use it on some foods. I rarely ever indulge in premade foods, even though they are delicious and easy, because you really don't know what is in them and especially the salt content is usually very high which is a real problem for me. Making a good alfredo is really easy and only takes a few minutes and if you buy fresh pasta, it only takes like 2-4 minutes to cook it, so its really quick and easy (even if you don't like to cook or feel confident that you can cook) Sorry I can't be more help.

quiksylver296

I weigh 8 oz if a serving size is a cup. Right or wrong, I'm not sure, but I'm losing slowly but steadily. If that changes, I'll reevaluate.

Briantime

Thank you for the responses. In a way, I was glad the answer was not obvious :-) I guess I can break it down like you said or just eyeball those items that only seem to measure in cups. Funny...they sell it by the pound, but do their nutritional data by the cup :-)

TavistockToad

Briantime wrote: »

I am trying to really get a handle on what I am eating and, instead of eyeballing portions I decided to start using a scale.

Question I have is, for example, Costco makes a chicken alfredo dinner that you take home and warm up. The food database shows the caloric content for this item in cups. Since a cup is a measure of volume instead of weight, is there a reliable formula I can use so I can decide my portion size?

the package it comes in, doesn't that have nutritional values per serving on?

jvcjim

i looked in the mfp database and they have a Costco - Chicken Alfredo listed that is broken down by various amounts including grams.

cmriverside

Well, if there are (say) four cups, that would be (for instance) six servings(?) or however many...so just weigh the entire recipe (the entire amount of food when ready to eat) and divide by six.

If it doesn't have "serving" on the container, and if you know the calories in a cup, and there are four cups in the container - weigh the entire amount first, then decide how much you want each serving to be, calorie wise.

CaptainJoy

Check the information on the package against the database. On the package it will state a serving size as 1 cup. In parentheses it will give the grams that correspond to the cup size. If the nutrition information in the database matches the package you can weigh your portion/serving.

If 1 cup is 100 grams and you weigh out 250 grams, you will have 2.5 servings or 2 1/2 cups.

Briantime

That makes sense! Thank you!